Weight loss tips from Web users who’d know

An online program featuring successful strategies of others who have lost weight may be an effective strategy for slimming down, say Penn State researchers.

To design the program, the researchers used “positive deviance,” which is the idea that solutions to problems exist within a population experiencing that problem. By generalizing what behaviors or approaches work for those who are most successful—typically the top 10 percent—strategies are developed that may help the general population achieve certain goals.